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War-weary mothers, wives and children of Ukrainian soldiers demand a cap on military service time

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:26 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Scores of protesters gathered on the streets of Ukrainian cities on Friday to demand a cap of 18 months on mandatory military service, amid new suggestions of possible Ukrainian and international weariness with the 20-month war.Both the warring sides are striving to keep their military momentum, though neither side is able to land a knockout blow, and the fighting is expected to drag on deep into next year.The 18-month service limit would be the same maximum as before the war. It is currently open-ended for draftees. The protesters, who are part of a loose national network, want the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, to consider possible alternatives on service time.About 100 wives, mothers, children and relatives of Ukrainian soldiers attended a demonstration in the capital, Kyiv.They chanted “Demobilize the soldiers” and carried banners calling for the return of their loved ones. “Why is dad not coming back?” asked one placard carried by a child.“I li...

How a massive solar storm could fry our entire grid

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:26 GMT

In today’s Big Story podcast, depending on your mood, it sounds either terrifying, or like a sweet release from modernity. But solar storms hit the Earth all the time, and it’s only a matter of time until a truly gigantic one fries us—it’s happened before, and will again. Our modern reliance on electricity leaves us much more vulnerable to solar flares, and we really don’t know how the grid will handle the power of such a storm.Christopher Mims is a technology columnist with the Wall Street Journal. He says there’s reasons to be optimistic in terms of the way scientists are mobilizing to prepare for the worst-case scenario. “It’s just been so long since we’ve been faced with an existential threat where it felt like people were actually doing the right thing about it,” says Mims.So how should we test our electrical grid’s resilience without turning it all off and then back on again? Should we do that?You can subscribe to The Big Story podcast on Apple Po...

Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge shows still-persistent underlying price pressures

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:26 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — An inflation gauge that is closely monitored by the Federal Reserve showed price increases remained elevated in September amid brisk consumer spending and strong economic growth.Friday’s report from the Commerce Department showed that prices rose 0.4% from August to September, the same as the previous month. And compared with 12 months earlier, inflation was unchanged at 3.4%.September’s month-to-month price increase exceeds a pace consistent with the Fed’s 2% annual inflation target, and it compounds already higher costs for such necessities as rent, food and gas. The Fed is widely expected to keep its key short-term interest rate unchanged when it meets next week. But its policymakers have flagged the risk that stronger growth could keep inflation persistently high and require further rate hikes to quell it. Since March 2022, the central bank has raised its key rate from near zero to roughly 5.4% in a concerted drive to tame inflation. Annual inflation has tumble...

The Biden administration is encouraging the conversion of empty office space to affordable housing

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:26 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is launching a multi-agency effort to encourage states and cities to convert more empty office buildings into housing units, with billions of federal dollars available to help spur such transitions. The new initiative, announced Friday morning, involves the departments of Housing and Urban Development and Transportation, along with the General Services Administration and the Office of Management and Budget in a multi-pronged effort to address both the national shortage of affordable housing and the post-pandemic surplus of vacant office buildings. “This presents an area of opportunity to both increase housing supply while revitalizing main streets. It’s a win-win,” said Lael Brainard, director of the National Economic Council. “We’re utilizing resources from across the government.” Several of the new measures will be designed to specifically encourage the creation of new affordable housing units near transportation hubs like bus...

About 30 children were taken hostage by Hamas militants. Their families wait in agony

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:26 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Abigail Edan is just 3 years old, yet when Hamas militants stormed her kibbutz, Kfar Azza, on Oct. 7 and killed her parents, she knew enough to run to a neighbor’s for shelter. The Brodutch family — mother Hagar and her three children — took Abigail in as the rampage raged. Then all five disappeared, later confirmed by the government to be captives of Hamas, both families said, some of more than 200 people dragged to Gaza on Israel’s bloodiest day.The waking nightmare has plunged the families of the captives into a foggy limbo distinct from grieving, even as tight-knit Israel mourns the more than 1,400 people killed by militants. The families of an estimated 30 children taken hostage from Israel describe a more exquisite agony, one of being haunted by the knowledge that their captive loved ones are defenseless.“She’s a baby, just 3 years old, and she’s all alone,” said Abigail’s aunt, Tal Edan, in a telephone interview, her voice quivering. “Maybe she was w...

Russia hikes interest rate for 4th time this year as inflation persists

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:26 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s Central Bank on Friday raised its key lending rate for the fourth time in half a year in an effort to bring down surging inflation.The bank raised the rate to 15%, up 200 basis points. The interest rate in the first half of the year was 7.5%.“Current inflationary pressures have significantly increased to a level above the Bank of Russia’s expectations,” the bank said in a statement. It said seasonally adjusted price growth in the third quarter exceeded an annualized 12% and inflation for the year is expected to be about 7%. The bank said it expected inflation to fall to about 4% in 2024. Raising interest rates is intended to impede inflation by increasing the cost of borrowing and encouraging savings. “Steadily rising domestic demand is increasingly exceeding the capabilities to expand the production of goods and the provision of services. Inflation expectations remain elevated. Lending growth paces are invariably high,” the bank said.Sanctions imposed o...

Photos released of men wanted for threatening high school students with knife

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:26 GMT

Toronto police have released photos of two men wanted after the pair allegedly threatened a group of high school students with a knife.Authorities say it happened on October 18 at around 12:45 p.m. at a program run by the Oasis Alternative Secondary School in the Carlaw Avenue and Gerrard Street area.Two men approached the students during school hours and one of them pulled out a knife while threatening the group. No injuries were reported.The suspects are described as:Suspect 1: Five foot three, with a slim build and brown/grey short hair with stubble and a light brown complexion. He was wearing light colours and had a red drawstring bag.Suspect 2: Male, Black, with a fair complexion. Five foot six with a muscular build.Toronto police have released images of both men.

Tokyo’s Shibuya district raises alarm against unruly Halloween, even caging landmark statue

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:26 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Tokyo’s busy shopping, business and entertainment district of Shibuya is trying hard to shoo away visitors ahead of this year’s Halloween weekend.Banners across town say no drinking and no Halloween events on the street, and town officials are cordoning off the famed statue of Hachi — an unceasingly loyal dog — behind protective walls.“Shibuya streets are not party venues for Halloween,” Shibuya Mayor Ken Hasebe said in an interview Friday with the Associated Press. “Anyone who is thinking about visiting Shibuya for Halloween, please be aware that the situation has changed this year … security will be tighter and it won’t be enjoyable.”Hasebe, a native of Shibuya, says his 91-year-old town — founded by people from around Japan — prides itself as an inclusive, innovative and diverse place open to visitors, but there should be a fine balance between freedom to enjoy the public space and the residents’ right to live peacefully. “We just want t...

Male rescued after falling into hole at Forest Hill construction site

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:26 GMT

A man has been taken to hospital after falling into a hole at a Forest Hill construction site. Toronto Fire was called to 417 Spadina Road following reports that a person had fallen down a large hole just after 6 a.m.He was rescued by fire crews and taken to hospital with serious injuries. It’s unknown if the male was a pedestrian or a worker on the construction site at the time.More to come

Power to the people? Only half have the right to propose and pass laws

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:26 GMT

Voters in Maine will be deciding a question in November about whether independent automobile repair shops should have access to the same diagnostic technology as dealerships. In Ohio, voters will be settling a pair of more personal questions — whether to create a constitutional right to abortion and legalize recreational marijuana. They are the latest of nearly 2,700 issues decided by voters over the past 125 years after citizens petitioned to place proposed laws or constitutional amendments on a statewide ballot. But that outburst of direct democracy has been limited to just half the states. When it comes to the power of the people, the nation stands divided. About 165 million people live in 25 states with active citizen initiative or referendum provisions, which let residents bypass the legislature to amend the constitution, enact laws or repeal those passed by elected officials. About 167 million people live in 25 other states where such direct democracy is not currently an optio...